Cultural Differences between the East and the West

Culture,according to the definition given by Hofstede, is the collective mentalprogramming of the people in an environment, conditioned by the same educationand life experience. Therefore, there are differences between various nationsor regions, because people are affected by education, society and workexperience. Take the cultural difference between the East and the West as theexample, China is a country that endures high power distance while America endureslower power distance. Therefore, status symbol is very important for Chineseand a superior having the privilege is a matter of course. But people in Americathink that they are all equal. Besides, the westerns are individualistic whilethe easterners are more collectivistic. In individualistic societies, peoplefocus on their own values and needs, relying on individual efforts to servetheir interests. In the collectivistic nations, people combine themselves intoone or several communities, finding their own place in the group and they mentallyrely on the community, so harmony seems important in those nations. There are threemain differences between the East and the West, namely uncertainty avoidanceindex, masculine versus femininity and long vs. short term orientation.

根据霍夫斯泰德对文化所下的定义，文化是在同一个环境中的人们所具有的“共同的心理程序”，是由相同的教育背景和生活经历所决定的。因此，各个不同的民族或地域之前会存在文化差异，因为其中的人会受到教育、社会和工作经验的影响。以东西方的文化差异为例，中国是一个崇尚大权力距离的国家，而美国是权力距离相对较小的国家。因此，地位象征对中国人来说尤为重要，认为上级所拥有的特权是理所当然的；而美国人则认为人与人之间是平等的。此外，西方人相对比较个人主义而东方人则更看重集体主义。在个人主义的社会中，人们重视自身的价值和需要，依靠个人的努力来为自己谋取利益，而在集体主义国家，人们把自己融入到一个或几个集体中，在这些集体中找到属于自己的位置，人们在精神上依赖于集体，因此，和谐在这些国家中显得尤为重要。在东西方文化中，还存在以下三个主要的文化差异，即不确定性规避、男性度与女性度以及长期取向与短期取向。